S1E16: Person of Interest always has something worthwhile to deliver, week after week. There’s never an episode that feels like a total letdown—and this week’s “Risk,” with its exciting ending, is surely not an exception. But, frankly, there’s an awful lot to wade through before the payoff. The bulk of the hour—and when I say that, I mean the first fifty-two minutes—is really just work to be done before we can get to the fun part at the very end. It’s the same old song and dance.
Reese introduces himself to our Number of the Week—this time, a young Wall Street prodigy—with some falsified identity. After the first attempt on our new friend’s life, Reese reveals himself to be a guardian angel with mysterious origins. A few innocent bystanders die, a few trusted allies are revealed to be traitorous backstabbers, a begrudging assist from either Carter or Fusco. That’s your episode. "What's wrong with my regular suits?" - Reese"They're fine for a hired assassin." - Finch This week follows the pattern to a tee. Adam Saunders is a young Wall Street wizard who comes from humble beginnings. He was raised by his uncle, currently a good-hearted food truck vendor, after his mother died and his father left. At the beginning of the episode, Saunders makes a fortune on a risky transaction involving the fall of a corporate giant who dedicated Person of Interest fans might recognize from an earlier episode. Adam has friends at his firm—like Paul (who turns out to be not as great a pal as Adam thinks) and Sydney Bailer, the boss with whom Adam has a romantic relationship. But Adam also has enemies—like Paul (see above parenthetical) and an SEC agent who has been investigating Adam for some time. But again, really, none of what happens throughout the episode’s A-story is at all that captivating, or discernible from the plot of any other week of this show. "I never said thank you for looking after me when I needed it." - Reese The one exception throughout is the reveal that John used to live among homeless squatters during his days in a stupor—back when we met him. John reconnects with an old friend, a homeless woman who apparently took care of him when he needed it, and makes a point to thank her for her friendship. He also makes a point to return the favor: he and his “client,” using the latter’s newfound riches, buy out the building for the use of the homeless and supply them with food from Adam’s uncle’s mobile restaurant. The end of the episode aims to compensate for a reasonably uninspired story by addressing a question so many of us have been asking week after week now. We’ve been focused on Snow. We “met” Root. Will Ingram is in the picture. But what happened to our original arch villain? Person of Interest’s first grandmaster of evil? The character that launched this show from a simple week-by-week procedural into something far more intriguing: ELIAS? Well, he’s back. "So what's this?" - Reese"The bigger picture." - Carter Paul and the SEC agent are apprehended after attempts on Adam’s life—but only the arrest of Paul is reported. The SEC agent is disposed of “unofficially” by a policeman—something that Carter takes notice of and finds horrifyingly suspicious. She then realizes that said policeman must be working for someone “above the law.” Someone who’d want an individual with the kind of information this particular SEC agent has out of the picture. And then we see Elias—answering the discarded cell phone that John and Carter apprehend and dial, knowing immediately that it is they on the other end of the phone. Oh, that Elias. He’s a good villain. But aside from the resurgence of the show's foremost figure in evil intrigue, the episode really strays from the idea of noteworthy. Adam's relationship with his uncle and adoptive father is sweet and light, which, in this show, is hard to come by. But the rest of the characters and angles about his plot just seem cut straight from the mold of not only your typical Person of Interest episode, but of your typical crime drama episode. You know from the minute Paul says "What are friends for?" (twice) that he's the secret bad guy. And it seems to me that a show as incredibly intelligent as Person of Interest - which is smart enough to have subtle seasonal arcs and intricate character backgrounds - might be able to come up with something less hackneyed than this week's Murder of the Week plot. But it’s reassuring to see Elias back in the picture. But will this muddle things with the other nemeses? Will we still be seeing Snow around town? And what about Root—who hasn’t really been brought up at all since her inception? What would you like to see happen next? Let us know in the comments section or on Twitter @Hollywood.com and @MichaelArbeiter.

S3E6: The third season of Justified seems to have a mission statement: shake Raylan Givens to his core, and leave him without so much as a grip on himself. We haven’t seen a lot of interaction between Raylan and his father Arlo—who one would suspect might be the hottest trigger to set Raylan off. Perhaps he is, in fact. But Wynona is at least a close second. Last week, Wynona left Raylan abruptly after promising him she wouldn’t (classy). To be fair, the reasons for her uneasiness in involving herself in a serious relationship with Raylan are completely understandable. But I think it’s easier to sympathize with Raylan in this circumstance, considering how many of his promises she has rejected, convincing herself and him that he’d never hold true to them in the first place.
“You going to hit her on the head and drag her back home?” – Judge
“I probably shouldn’t. She’s pregnant.” – Raylan
This week, Raylan spends a good amount of time looking for Wynona. All the while, he’s investigating a shooting that took place in, of all locales, his deceased aunt’s house—where Arlo just happens to be running an oxy operation under the reign of Boyd Crowder. Ellen May, a Harlan prostitute, witnesses the murder of two of Boyd’s men and her co-prostitute and friend Trixie at the hand of two rival oxy dealers—men working for the nefarious Mr. Quarles, whose disturbing factor skyrockets this week.
But before Raylan heads out on the prowl of these shooters, he looks into where Wynona might be. Her work computer shows signs of island destinations—he figures she might be looking to skip town and head to more tropical horizons. Regrettably, Raylan heads down to the evidence room—saying hi to ol’ Charlie, of course— and checks the money-filled locker once scoured by his beloved: it is completely empty. All of the stored money is gone. Naturally, Raylan assumes the worst.
“It’s them pills that keeps a roof over our heads.” – Delroy
Back to the homicide/drug robbery case. Raylan’s investigations take him through some pretty hostile terrain. He pays a visit to his father, voicing issue with the use of the late Aunt Helen’s home as an oxy ring, and goes a little bit mad. Then, Raylan finds himself in the company of Boyd Crowder. And for the first time in a while, Boyd seems to be really getting to Raylan. Our cowboy hero gets awfully riled up at Boyd over the dragging of his family name through his crooked dealings. But it’s more than that, we know. Raylan is emotionally distraught over Wynona. As such, he is unable to keep his cool in the company of Arlo, Boyd, or even the dimwitted pimp who has been beating and manipulating Ellen May in an attempt to find the men responsible for stealing the oxys she was meant to pick up for him. Raylan still manages to get the best of this man—and, to some degree, of Arlo and Boyd—but he’s clearly not on his game. But then again, when has he been lately?
“Don’t say you were honoring her memory by setting up an oxy clinic in her home.” - Raylan
Raylan does, via the word of Ellen May, get the identities of the men responsible for the shooting. After he shoots them in a “justifiable” series of events, word gets back to Quarles that two of his men are dead. Now, Quarles has seemed so far like a pretty cold-blooded, steady, businesslike criminal. But this week, we see a different man. For one, he has a prisoner in his bedroom—a naked man, bound and gagged and tied to a bed. Behind clothes doors, what we (and Winn Duffy) hear sounds like Quarles’ rape of the man. Obviously, super disturbing. But what disturbs me even more is the quavering space-out that Quarles gives shortly after his phone convo this week. I’m beginning to suspect that his son—the one he’s always chatting with on the phone—is dead. Call it a hunch, and one out of thin air. But there’s something weird about the whole ordeal.
“So that’s it? You’re gone?” - Raylan “I’ve been gone for weeks.” - Wynona Raylan’s conclusive conversation with Wynona (he finally tracks her down to her sister’s place) delivers him the closure he needs to at least put his wrath at bay. She explains that she won’t be able to raise a child with a man who is frequently shooting or being shot at. And she knows that if he truly wanted to change for her, he would have already. But more importantly, Wynona reveals that she did not, in fact, take the money. So who did? And why is ol’ Charlie driving down south in a brand new car? Meanwhile, some interesting stuff is brewing between Boyd Crowder and Mr. Limehouse. A business arrangement has formed between them despite Boyd's unfavorable reputation in Limehouse's community. But Limehouse himself is running a tight ship in his own circles, doling out threats in a way that lets us know some violence is coming. What did you think of this week’s episode? How will this affect Raylan’s personal and professional life in the future? Will we still be seeing Wynona week to week? And when are we going to start seeing more of Art, Rachel, and the near-invisible Tim? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section, or on Twitter @Hollywood.com and @MichaelArbeiter.

To all of the present day, free-wheeling English majors who wish they were born forty years earlier, Kill Your Darlings is the vicarious answer to your prayers.
The film features the central figures of the Beat Generation—Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac and William S. Burroughs, among others—in a story centering around artist Lucien Carr's murder of his teacher and stalker David Kammerer. The cast as it stands contains an impressive lot: Dane DeHaan (Chronicle) has the central Carr role, while contemporary greats Daniel Radcliffe, Jack Huston (Boardwalk Empire's reigning hero) and Elizabeth Olsen will play legendary figures Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac and Edie Parker, respectively. But the news just gets better.
Rising film star Ben Foster (3:10 to Yuma, Rampart) has accepted the role of the brilliant William S. Burroughs. Dexter star Michael C. Hall joins the cast as a separate friend of Burroughs' whose death is credited as the inspiration to pioneer the Beat Generation. Additional cast members include Kyra Sedgwick and Jennifer Jason Leigh, both in yet unconfirmed roles.
Excitement brews, undeniably. The dark film depicting timelessly fascinating individuals as seen through the eyes of some of today's greatest young performers...trust me on this: five seconds in the theater, you'll be howling with joy. And you'll keep on howling until you're back on the road. So you'd better pack a naked lunch.
Let's just hope this doesn't tank (like where all those hippos were boiled) at the box office!
Source: Indiewire

The romantic drama The Vow is not adapted from a Nicholas Sparks novel though I doubt its producers would be offended if you’d assumed otherwise. In fact I suspect they’re banking on it. The film’s stars Rachel McAdams and Channing Tatum are both recognized veterans of the Sparks subgenre – she gave us the indelible (for better or worse) Notebook while he starred in the somewhat less successful Dear John. Moreover its premise pitting love against the insidious after-effects of brain trauma may be inspired by a true story but its one-two punch of tragedy and sentiment is straight out of Sparks’ tear-jerking playbook.
It’s all there in The Vow’s opening montage which first introduces Leo (Tatum) and Paige (McAdams) two desperately smitten bohemian-artist types (she’s a sculptor; he’s a musician/studio owner) and then rudely separates them all in one slick heartbreaking sequence. There’s the meet-cute at the DMV the whirlwind courtship the quirky marriage proposal the kitschy guerrilla wedding (replete with vows scrawled on restaurant menus) and finally the brutal car accident glimpsed in agonizing slow-motion that leaves poor Paige in a coma.
When Paige awakens in the hospital Leo is aghast to discover his wife doesn’t recognize him. While her girl-next-door beauty emerged from the crash remarkably intact it seems her brain did not fare so well suffering injuries that effectively wiped out her memory of the preceding five years – a span comprising the entirety of her relationship with Leo. Her mind’s clock rewound a half-decade Paige assumes the identity of Paige from five years prior like a rebooted computer whose owner neglected to backup the hard drive in a timely manner.
It soon becomes achingly apparent that the Paige from five years prior was markedly different from the Paige we met in the opening credits: a superficial sorority girl on track for a law degree averse to city-dwelling partial to blueberry mojitos cowed by her domineering father (Sam Neill) and engaged to a corporate douche (Scott Speedman). Upon emerging from her slumber she finds the remnants from her old life all-too-eager to re-assimilate their lost lamb into the Bourgeois Borg even if she does have one of those icky tattoos.
In danger of losing the love of his life to her former one a heartbroken Leo resolves to win back Paige even if it means starting from scratch and wooing her all over again. Aligned against him are the grim realities of brain damage as well as Paige’s family and former fiancé whose cult-like efforts at re-education seem ever-creepier the more I contemplate them. (There are unintentional echoes of Total Recall in Paige’s arc which I suppose would make Leo her Kuato.)
Cultishness and Total Recall allusions notwithstanding The Vow flirts with a more unsettling notion one seemingly at odds with the romantic drama mission implying that what we know as love is simply the product of our memories tenuous and transient and not the profound transcendent bond that Hallmark promised.
Fear not: The Vow is by no means a dense metaphysical treatise. Director Michael Sucsy (Grey Gardens) and is far more concerned with heart-tugging than thought-provoking. To that end he steers admirably clear of grand epiphanies and other moments of high melodrama preferring instead to apportion the sap relatively evenly throughout the story. The strategy is less manipulative but also less impactful. The script from Abby Kohn Marc Silverstein and Jason Katims can’t maintain the energy of its opening act and apart from its brain damage twist is a tediously familiar romantic-drama slog. I found myself secretly rooting for some old-fashioned emotional overkill if only to alleviate the boredom.
The two leads for their part form a charming pair. McAdams is as endearing as ever working well within her comfort zone and equally likable Tatum bears his character’s anguish ably even if he’ll never be credible as a bohemian-artist type. Their easy appealing chemistry might be enough to satisfy the Sparks-philes but it’s not enough to sustain the film.
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S1E2: Based on the first episode of HBO’s new drama Luck, I think it is no grand leap to assume that the show’s meager ratings will not be seeing a huge spike anytime soon. The subject matter, and the way it is delivered to audiences, is alienating to those not already well versed in the world of horserace gambling. As our TV editor, Kelsea Stahler, pointed out in her review of the pilot, Luck places a heavy focus on the emotionality inherent in horseracing—to the trainers, the jockeys, the gamblers, everybody. But interspersed are jargon-heavy conversations that act to further the plot and set us in a vividly realistic depiction of the scenery. To those of us who are complete strangers to the racetrack, these conversations do more harm than good.
But the second episode, while not completely free of this problem (I won’t exactly call it a flaw, because the show doesn’t seem at all oblivious to what it is doing), is a clear indicator of why HBO might have decided to pick up the series for a second season. We already guessed that Luck’s strongest selling point would be its cast. Film legends like Dustin Hoffman, Nick Nolte and Dennis Farina lead the list of players in this drama. And even if the premise doesn’t grip you inherently, they will. The cast—and the characters—are exemplary.
“Like the whole state economy, the track is desperate for new streams of revenue. The perfect f**king Trojan Horse.” – Ace
We see Hoffman’s Chester “Ace” Bernstein, just freed from a three-year stint in jail—all because he took the fall for his partner (the yet-unseen Michael Gambon)—getting readily back into the game. But as we learned in the pilot, Bernstein is not the man he used to be. His mind is going. His temper is unkempt. I predict a long, slow demolition of this character from the inside out. This week, Bernstein institutes a meeting with potential investors for his racetrack purchase—but his agitated demeanor is a deterrent to the men. Right by Ace’s side is the wide-eyed thug Gus (Farrina), whose experience with gambling is akin to that of the confused viewer I described above. Ep.2 Clip - Comprende? Although we haven’t seen Gus lose his cool just yet—he actually seems the kindest of the characters we’ve met so far—his one-off comment about plugging Ace’s betrayer Michael (Gambon) and Ace’s description of his assistant as “hot under the collar” might suggest a background in playing rough. It also might suggest a degree of projecting for Ace, whose collar is perpetually on fire. As the duo struggles to find its place back in the underworld, I find their scenes together to be delightfully classic. They’re an old school formula: Rocky and Mugsy. The small, shot-calling brains with the hot temper, and his mild-mannered, milder-minded muscle. A line of dialogue in the pilot makes the pairing really endearing: “I don’t trust anybody. Even myself,” says Bernstein, concluding to Gus: “You get a pass.” Unconditional (and unlikely) friendships amid worlds of deceit and corruption are terrific story devices. I’m looking forward to see how far this one takes us. “I appreciate the good fortune we’ve had, but ball-breaking over my wardrobe is not my idea of fun. And my mental adroitness is dulled by this constant negativity!” – Lonnie In the pilot, the band of Marcus (Kevin Dunn), Jerry (Jason Gedrick), Renzo (Ritchie Coster) and the Ringo the group, Lonnie (Ian Hart), were mostly just noise to wade through due to the heavy amount of technical chitchat about the gambling process. But the second episode boosted them up to a dynamic force, thrusting them at odds with one another due to divergent perspectives on how to handle their newfound riches. Marcus, the unofficial leader of the group and rejecter of all ideas not his own, insists that they all lay low with their intake for the time being, as not to attract any attention. The others succumb to various weaknesses. Jerry, apparently a gambling addict (there has to be at least one in a show like this) spends an inordinate amount of time losing at a poker table to a trash talking high roller. Lonnie lets two women get the better of him—they beat him senseless after he suggests that he’ll be cutting off ties (and funds). There’s something fantastically interesting about this aspect of the series: four men—not friends, not family, not coworkers…four men disconnected by everything except for their partnership in what might well prove to be a problematic financial deal—are bound to one another and forced to wade through the consequences together. Their actions affect each other (as Marcus chants throughout the episode), so they need to keep tabs on one another. When a badly injured Lonnie is delivered to the neighboring motel doors of Marcus and Renzo, the two anxiously take him into the room to tend to him. They’re all in this together, despite having absolutely no emotional connection to one another. Yet. Ep.2 Clip - Ready? “You know what breaking legs sounds like? Branches snapping…” – Walter
But the most wonderful part of the show, as we might have guessed from the first episode, is Nick Nolte’s Walter Smith. A pained, guilt-driven man whose heart bleeds endlessly. He loves horses. He can’t get over the murder of a prized racehorse who cost some business associates a good deal of money. And his heart bleeds (thought slightly less so) for young rider Rosie (Kerry Condon), whom he looks into helping out professionally after he refuses to let her handle the horse he most prizes presently. Smith is a man dipped in such a thick sap of sadness that every word he utters is so valuable. I cannot see this character getting boring, or alienating. He is pure, raw emotion, and his will be the journey—if only one rears—that keeps us adhered to the show cathartically. The remaining characters are interesting in their own right. Richard Kind plays Joey Rathburn, a version of his regular type amped up with more anxiety than he can handle. His business partner, trainer Turo Escalante (John Ortiz) is as hotheaded and distrustful as Bernstein is said to be. He chastises his good-natured jockey, the young Cajun boy Leon Micheaux (Tom Payne) for “flapping his mouth” about his horse’s ability. Escalante values the secrecy of his horse’s abilities in order to keep bets on and barters for him few and far between. When word gets out about the horse’s ability and a cowboy named Mulligan wagers a purchase, Escalante is furious—and Renzo, whose mission was to buy the horse himself, is let down. After the pilot, the second episode of Luck is a refreshing, deeply human piece of work that promises good things for the future of the show. What did you think of the episode? Are those of you with limited knowledge of the gambling world deterred by the show? How about those who know a lot about gambling—is the show getting it right? Let us know in the comments section, or on Twitter (@MichaelArbeiter).

S1E13: In my recap of the previous episode of Person of Interest, I noted particular flaw I found with the episode’s Number of the Week storyline. It seemed too basic—offering little that we haven’t seen before. On the plus side, we were introduced to a few interesting new developments: Carter’s admittance onto the team (and her cat-and-mouse game with Fusco, which was rife with some very funny dramatic irony—if that’s not an oxymoron), and, even more interestingly, a glimpse into Finch’s personal life. The week prior, we had gotten an extensive look at Finch’s past, learning about the creation and the inner-workings of the machine, and more about his relationship with Ingram.
This week forgoes most of that sort of thing, at least on the surface. There is a single storyline, and it centers on what seems at the start to be your standard Number of the Week. But quickly does the excitement amplify. First of all, this week’s Number story is a heck of a lot more complex than that which we’ve seen. Political intrigue. Mysterious enemies. Setups. Computer hacking—and not just by Finch! Person of Interest fans, I do believe we have met our hero Harold Finch’s ARCHENEMY.
“If there’s one thing our little venture has proven it’s that people are rarely what they seem.” – Finch
The Number: this week is unique in that instead of a high profile judge or big name Wall Street executive, we get a typical guy as the machine’s printout. A man named Powell. He has a wife and kids, and was recently laid off from work (a fact of which his wife does not know). Powell has been seeking work everywhere he can, and the episode opens with a job opportunity finally presenting itself to him. Unfortunately, what he doesn’t know is that his hirer is actually using him as a patsy. Powell heads to work, rigging the tickertape machine (or something of that nature) at a political rally for the controversial Congressman Delancey: the victim of an obscured shooter.
“There are no bathrooms on a stakeout, Finch.” – Reese
Those behind the murder succeed in framing Powell, and he is brought into custody by the police. They have also succeeded in planting incriminating evidence on his computer—forged hate mail to the congressman, a history of visiting terrorist websites, etc. Needless to say, Powell’s wife Leslie is going out of her mind—but don’t worry, she doesn’t go nuts and get trigger-happy. It’s just an emotional vehicle for the man’s story. And an effective one.
“IT’S A HONEY POT!” – Finch
One of Delancey’s associates, his business partner and campaign strategist Matheson, is behind the whole thing. But he isn’t acting alone. Matheson has hired the work out to an expert—the aforementioned archenemy. An expert hacker who is so skilled, she even breaks into Finch’s computer and taps his and Reese’s phones. A figure so mysterious, that we never see her face, or hear her real voice. She taps away at a computer, adjacent to a menacing fish tank, with her voice garbled—the whole ordeal is almost a bit too over the top for such a serious show. She kind of reminds me of Inspector Gadget’s nemesis Dr. Claw.
“So you’re the guy on the other end of the phone.” – Zoe
At any rate, Finch and Reese are resourceful. The later breaks Powell from the grasp of the FBI, who usurp his custody, and does his whole “You have to trust me/We’re in this together now/I’m a warrior of the shadows” routine that wins Powell over pretty quickly. And on the other end of things, Finch brings in an independent contractor of his own. You might recall Zoe, the fixer from the sixth episode of the series, and a sort of friendly rival for John Reese. This time around, Finch calls her in to utilize her familiarity with the political spectrum. Zoe helps Finch keep tabs on Matheson, who, in turn, leads them to the mysterious fish tank woman. Unfortunately, neither criminal can be apprehended: Matheson is killed (by his own faceless accomplice), and she flees the scene, which turns out, comically, to be the dorm room of an unexpected college student away on break. So she’s still out there. Lurking. And teasing Finch with “Hello, Neo”-esque Instant Messages.
“I could die. And the person that I love most in life would think that I’m nothing more than a killer. Do you know what that’s like?” – Powell
“Actually I do. Of course, in my case, it’s true.” – Reese
The fun part of this is the introduction of a new big villain. An astutely capable one, who matches, and possibly bests, Finch in her powers of secrecy and surveillance. But there’s one thing that worries me. One commenter, Jnwngh, pointed out last week that we haven’t seen anything of Elias lately. I’m not in the business of doubting Person of Interest, as it has succeeded in surprising and impressing me so very much over the past few weeks, but the fact that he’s never even mentioned anymore does seem odd. Is the crime lord going to get back in the game in a big way? I’m almost certain he will—and perhaps, the show is waiting for sweeps week to bring him in.
Although I love the idea of this new villain, I hope they balance her neatly with Elias. They are very different types of threats to our heroes and to New York City itself. I’d like to see them both played out, and not at the expense of one another.
“We have no proof that Mathison had Delancey killed.” – Finch
“Let’s go get some.” – Zoe
Another thing I’m glad to see: the return of Zoe. She was an interesting figure when we first met her, and she continues to serve a healthy energy to the show. Not only that, I think that if anyone can derive a little bit of humanity out of Reese—and maybe help to flesh out his obscured back story—it’s her. So here’s hoping that her request to get coffee with Reese at the end of this week’s episode is met. Repeatedly.
What did you think of this week’s episode? Where might they be going with the mysterious new villain, known only as "Root"? Could she overshadow Elias? What could Zoe bring to the table if she’s on the show more often? Let us know in the comments section, or on Twitter (@MichaelArbeiter ).

S3E13: As excited as I was that Elijah is back on The Vampire Diaries, I’ve got to say his return wasn’t exciting as I’d hoped. Luckily, the rest of the episode manages to make up for it. The murder mystery that started with Meredith’s murdered ex-boyfriend lying in the woods with a stake in his heart gets some serious traction; the series finds its way back to the gooey center with an emotional loss that binds Caroline and Elena; and the Damon/Elena/Stefan triangle gets more angsty, albeit with a little premature transparency. Plus the horror element gets a serious upgrade this week. But, we’ve got plenty of drama to work through, so let’s get to it.
“Elijah, my favorite original.” –Damon
We pick up right where we left off, with Elijah standing over a freshly killed hybrid and he is not happy. This first meeting between brothers starts with a fight, but changes quickly when Klaus tells Elijah that the contents of the fourth coffin will allow the family to be whole and that Michael is dead. And boom: it seems that Elijah is on Klaus’ side. Of course, we assume when he meets up with Damon a few scenes later that he’s just playing the game to help his brother, but it’s not that simple. When Damon undaggered the original, he left a note about meeting, signed “XOXO, Damon” (CW synergy!) and when he asks what “Klaus-killing weapon” is in the fourth coffin, Elijah instead sets up a gentlemen’s meeting. And there’s a reason I love Elijah – he’s just so old-fashioned.
”Why would you ask that?”-Stefan
“Maybe because I don’t know what you’re capable of anymore.” –Elena
Sheriff Forbes visits Elena and Rick to reveal that the stake that killed the medical examiner is one from Elena’s lake house and the only visible fingerprints are hers. The sheriff doesn’t think Elena did it, but she’s part of the puzzle. Damon thinks it was Meredith, Rick and Elena say it’s not possible – the first murder happened before Meredith ever saw Rick’s stash of weapons. Because she’s still not over the evil Stefan phase, Elena thinks it could have been her former flame. And because she’s the new, no BS Elena, she follows him to the cave where he’s keeping the coffin to ask him if he did it. It’s obvious that her question is deeply painful. He’s offended that she’d even question him and when he asks her if she questioned Damon about killing anyone, he knows that the answer is no. That kiss is really killing him, especially since the reason he went with Klaus and lost his humanity was to save Damon.
Later, Matt walks Elena home and when they get to her house the electricity is out – and they don’t think this is ominous at all. It’s not like they live in a town full of supernatural creatures and horror movie overtones. They grab flashlights and see the trail of blood leading upstairs – and a little more of that delicious scary movie style creeps back in. Upstairs, they find that Alaric has been stabbed. He’s still alive, but doesn’t know who did this to him. His wound is fatal and since they don’t know who attacked him Elena has to finish the job. Rick’s ring only protects him from supernatural attackers and since Elena is a doppelganger, she fits the bill. Luckily, it works, because with Caroline’s dad on his deathbed (we’ll get there) she’s got too many memories of dying parents coming back to her to lose Rick too.
But whodunit? Rick identifies the weapons used on the other victims (himself and Bill Forbes) as his own and figures out that the only person in all three places where he kept those weapons was Meredith. But, when all is said and done, Meredith has an alibi and they’re back to square one. And these attacks are just the beginning because someone no one suspects is picking off council members left and right. The show is about to get a whole lot bloodier, and soon.
“I told you I don’t have any powers.” –Abby
“And I don’t believe you.” –Stefan
Stefan takes Bonnie and her mother to the coffin, which is hidden in the cave with the ancient drawings – the one that’s got a spell to keep vampires out. They’ll be safe in there to figure out how to open the coffin while Stefan and Damon try to stall Klaus. Once they get to work, they find a blood knot in the Grimwar next to the spell Abby used to imprison Michael, which means it took two witches from the same blood line to seal it. It probably takes two in the same bloodline to open it. They start working on the spell, but it’s not doing anything. (We can tell because the candles aren’t shooting up flames.) Bonnie is convinced that Abby isn’t trying and Abby says the spirits are punishing her, but Bonnie isn’t an idiot. She knows Abby’s not trying and she says that her dreams can’t be wrong – Abby is closing herself off. It takes a comment about Bonnie pretending Abby was dead to deal with the pain of her leaving to turn the former witch around. They hold hands and the flames in the candles shoot up (which means it’s working!) and the coffin almost opens. While Bonnie goes to tell Damon, the coffin opens and knocks her mother out. Of course, we don’t see what’s in it, but it seems to be a living thing since it whipped that lid open on its own.
“This is life. This is what it means to be human.” –Bill
At the hospital, Meredith says Caroline’s dad was discharged, but then Caroline hears her dad’s phone in the hallway. She follows the sound into an eerie medical supply room where he’s dead with a stake in his heart, just like the medical examiner. He’s not actually dead though because Meredith used vampire blood to heal him. Lucky break right? Wrong. This is Bill Forbes. He hates vampires. So he refuses to drink blood and accepts that he’s going to die without it. This brings about a sequence of events that bonds Elena and Caroline because they’ll both have experience the loss of a parent – a welcome addition to the angsty love triangle, as much as we love it.
Elena is also mired to this subject because she’s familiar with the concept of the choice to be or not to be a vampire. She dealt with that when Damon did it to save her from Klaus the first time and when Stefan almost killed her just a few episodes ago. Elena tries to convince Caroline it’s what’s right for him, but Caroline just wants her father to live, naturally. So, she tries to convince him to accept the transformation, but he says it goes against his beliefs. Caroline takes this personally, because how could she not, but he explains that he doesn’t hate her, he loves her, and he knows she’s good. He dies, a casualty of the most dangerous small town in America, and it would seem that the series is back to that low (and fantastically scary) place where it will kill off anyone (outside of the sacred love triangle). Last time TVD went this far, we lost Aunt Jenna. Something big is coming.
“Stefan, where is the lovely Elena tonight?” –Elijah
“I don’t know, ask Damon.” –Stefan
Now for the juiciest part: dinner with Klaus. Stefan doesn’t trust Elijah, because he betrayed them last time. Damon’s sure he’s pissed enough to screw Klaus over so he makes Stefan go to Klaus’ dinner to make a “fake truce” – the bit about how Damon never would have kissed Elena if Klaus hadn’t turned Stefan probably helps to seal the deal, as he’s clearly ruled by his emotions regarding the incident. Still, Stefan isn’t really happy with anyone in light of recent romantic revelations and he’s stubborn at Klaus’ dinner, but it’s not long before everyone – including Damon – tells him to put a sock in it. It’s about this time that we find that Stefan and Damon are basically Klaus and Elijah 2.0. Let’s do a little rundown, why don’t we?
a. Klaus killed his mother; Stefan killed his father. This creates sibling tension for both pairs. b. Elijah and Klaus both loved the same girl and she had trouble deciding between them. Sounds pretty similar to the Elena issue between the Salvatore brothers. c. The girl they loved was the originator of the Petrova line (the bloodline that makes Elena a doppelganger) and her blood turned them into vampires. This really connects everything in far too many ways, but the main point is both sets of brothers have fallen in love with a Petrova lady. d. The originals eventually decided that family comes first and gave up on their Petrova love; the Salvatores have done no such thing, but Klaus sure thinks it would be a good idea. “I love her, Damon.” –Stefan “So do I.” –Damon Now, there is a purpose to all this wining and dining. Damon proposes that they hand over the coffin and the originals all leave Mystic Falls and leave Stefan, Damon and Elena alone. Small snag: Elena is the key to hybrids, so Klaus won’t leave her. Klaus says that the two of them are the worst thing for her; one will turn her into a vampire or their feuding will get her killed and she’s tearing them apart. Klaus wants Elena to raise little human babies with Matt so he has an endless supply of doppelganger blood, which would mean she’s always protected. But Stefan won’t do it (because he loves her and wants her for himself, duh!). Klaus is not amused and threatens to burn Stefan alive if Damon doesn’t hand over the coffin. Elijah is supposed to go with Damon, but neither of them leave; instead they undagger the whole happy family and Elijah tells the Salvatores to leave. The brothers and sisters descend on Klaus just as whatever came out of that coffin finally rears its head. It’s the original witch (but how? This doesn’t make sense!) and though she has the ability to kill Klaus, she says she’s back to have her family. Okay, what? There has better be more to this story (besides Rebekah’s aside that she’s going to kill Elena because someone’s always trying to kill Elena on this show. At least two over-protective vampires are in love with her and we’re used to her being in danger.) Speaking of which (I saved this for last because it’s the gushy romantic part we all love so much), Stefan says what we’ve known all along: he’s no ripper, he still loves Elena. And even though he almost gave up during that whole fire-threat moment, he still wants her. But at the same time, they seem to be determined not to kill each other over it. Stefan acknowledges that Damon could have let him stay in his heartless state – or die (including during dinner) – and he could have had a clear shot at Elena, but he didn’t. But he did it for Elena, not Stefan. Game, set, match. They may both want Klaus dead, but they also both want Elena. Are you excited to see Damon and Stefan actually vie for Elena for once? (Instead of just pining over her?) What do you think Klaus’ mother is really there to be a family? Or is she a double-crosser just like her son? Let me know in the comments or get at me on Twitter. @KelseaStahler

If Sundance is the studious valedictorian of film festivals, than South by Southwest is the party animal younger broth—who's just as smart (if not more) as his stuffy sibling. Held in Austin, Texas every March, SXSW is a rootin' tootin' celebration of cinema, hosting big Hollywood premieres, the best of the best from Sundance and plenty of off-beat indies primed and ready for discovery. Some of the year's best films premiere at the festival—need I remind you of Kill List—and most make their way to release, making SXSW a festival to keep your eye on.
The line-up for this year's fest has been officially release, and sports highly anticipated movies like Jonah Hill's 21 Jump Street and Cabin in the Woods, the long-awaited meta-horror from Lost/Cloverfield writer Drew Goddard and producer Joss Whedon, the premiere of Judd Apatow's new TV show Girls (written and starring Lena Dunham) and new projects from acclaimed directors like William Friedkin (The Exorcist), Kevin McDonald (Last King of Scotland), Will Ferrell, Jay Chandrasekhar of Broken Lizard and the Duplass Brothers (Cyrus).
Check out the films below and let us know which ones you want to hear more about!
HEADLINERS
Big names, big talent: Headliners bring star power to SXSW, featuring red carpet premieres and gala film events with some major and rising names in cinema.
Films screening in Headliners are:
21 Jump Street
Directed by: Phil Lord &amp; Christopher Miller, Screenplay by: Michael Bacall, Story by: Michael Bacall &amp; Jonah Hill
Police officers Schmidt (Jonah Hill) and Jenko (Channing Tatum) get sent back to high school as undercover cops in the action-comedy 21 Jump Street. Cast: Jonah Hill, Channing Tatum, Brie Larson, Dave Franco, Rob Riggle, with Ice Cube (World Premiere)
BIG EASY EXPRESS
Director: Emmett Malloy
Emmett Malloy’s latest film invites us aboard a train ride unlike any other with Mumford &amp; Sons, Edward Sharpe &amp; the Magnetic Zeros and Old Crow Medicine Show.
(World Premiere)
The Cabin in the Woods
Director: Drew Goddard, Screenwriters: Joss Whedon &amp; Drew Goddard
Five friends go to a remote cabin in the woods. Bad things happen. If you think you know this story, think again. From fan favorites Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard comes The Cabin in the Woods, a mind-blowing horror film that turns the genre inside out. Cast: Kristen Connolly, Fran Kranz, Anna Hutchison, Chris Hemsworth, Jesse Williams, Richard Jenkins, and Bradley Whitford (World Premiere)
Decoding Deepak
Director: Gotham Chopra
Filmmaker Gotham Chopra spends a year on the road decoding his father and spiritual icon Deepak Chopra. (World Premiere)
Girls
Director/Screenwriter: Lena Dunham
Created by and starring Lena Dunham (Tiny Furniture), the HBO show is a comic look at the assorted humiliations and rare triumphs of a group of girls in their early 20s.
Cast: Lena Dunham, Allison Williams, Jemima Kirke, Zosia Mamet, Adam Driver (World Premiere)
The Hunter (Australia)
Director: Daniel Nettheim, Screenplay by: Alice Addison, Novel by: Julia Leigh, Original Adaptation by: Wain Fimeri
A mercenary is dispatched from Europe to the Tasmanian wilderness by a mysterious biotech company to search for the last surviving Tasmanian tiger.
Cast: Willem Dafoe, Frances O'Connor, Sam Neill (U.S. Premiere)
Killer Joe
Director: William Friedkin, Screenwriter: Tracy Letts
A garish, Southwestern tale - a violent black comedy about a desperate Texas debtor (Hirsch) who plots to kill his mother with help of his family (Haden Church, Gershon). They hire a crazy Dallas cop who moonlights as a contract killer (McConaughey) to do the job, but Killer Joe asks for their teenage daughter (Temple) as a retainer. The film is based on Pulitzer Prize winner Tracy Letts' (August: Osage County) award winning play. Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Emile Hirsch, Gina Gershon, Juno Temple, Thomas Haden Church (U.S. Premiere)
MARLEY (UK / USA)
Director: Kevin Macdonald
The definitive life story of Bob Marley - musician, revolutionary, legend - from his early days to his rise to international superstardom. Made with the support of the Marley family, the film features rare footage, incredible performances and revelatory interviews with the people that knew him best. Directed by Academy-Award-Winner Kevin Macdonald. (North American Premiere)
NARRATIVE FEATURE COMPETITION
This year’s 8 films were selected from 1,112 submissions. Each film is a World Premiere.
Films screening in Narrative Feature Competition are:
Booster
Director/Screenwriter: Matt Ruskin
When Simon’s brother is arrested for armed robbery, he is asked to commit a string of similar crimes in an attempt to get his brother acquitted.
Cast: Nico Stone, Adam DuPaul, Seymour Cassel, Kristin Dougherty, Brian McGrail (World Premiere)
Eden
Director: Megan Griffiths, Screenwriters: Richard B. Phillips, Megan Griffiths, Story by: Richard B. Phillips &amp; Chong Kim
A young Korean-American girl, abducted and forced into prostitution by domestic human traffickers, joins forces with her captors in a desperate plea to survive. Cast: Jamie Chung, Matt O'Leary, Beau Bridges, Jeanine Monterroza, Scott Mechlowicz (World Premiere)
Gayby
Director/Screenwriter: Jonathan Lisecki
Jenn and Matt, best friends since college who are now in their thirties, decide to have a child together, the old-fashioned way - even though Matt is gay and Jenn is straight. Cast: Jenn Harris, Matthew Wilkas, Mike Doyle, Anna Margaret Hollyman, Jack Ferver (World Premiere)
Gimme the Loot
Director/Screenwriter: Adam Leon
When Malcolm and Sofia’s latest graffiti masterpiece is buffed by a rival gang, these two determined Bronx teens must hustle, steal, and scheme to get spectacular revenge and become the biggest writers in the City. Cast: Tashiana Washington, Ty Hickson, Meeko, Zoe Lescaze, Sam Soghor
(World Premiere)
Los Chidos (Germany / Mexico / USA)
Director/Screenwriter: Omar Rodriguez Lopez
The Gonzales family tries hard to hold on to their beautiful Latino traditions of misogyny and homophobia when a tall, white, industrialist stranger appears, challenging their place in the exploitative food chain. Cast: Kim Stodel, María De Jesús Canales Ramírez, Manuel Ramos, Cecillia Gutiérrez, (World Premiere)
Pilgrim Song
Director: Martha Stephens, Screenwriters: Martha Stephens, Karrie Crouse
A pink-slipped music teacher ponders his stalled relationship and place in the world during an arduous trek across Kentucky’s Sheltowee Trace Trail. Cast: Timothy Morton, Bryan Marshall, Karrie Crouse, Harrison Cole, Michael Abbott Jr. (World Premiere)
Starlet
Director: Sean Baker, Screenwriters: Sean Baker, Chris Bergoch
The film explores the unlikely friendship between 21-year-old Jane (Dree Hemingway), and 85 year-old Sadie (Besedka Johnson), two women whose worlds collide in California's San Fernando Valley.
Cast: Dree Hemingway, Besedka Johnson, Stella Maeve, James Ransone, Karren Karagulian
(World Premiere)
The Taiwan Oyster
Director: Mark Jarrett, Screenwriters: Mark Jarrett, Jordan Heimer, Mitchell Jarrett
Two Ex-Pat Kindergarten teachers in Taiwan embark on a quixotic odyssey to bury a fellow countryman. Cast: Billy Harvey, Jeff Palmiotti, Leonora Lim (World Premiere)NARRATIVE SPOTLIGHT
High profile narrative features receiving their World, North American or U.S. Premieres at SXSW.
Films screening in Narrative Spotlight are:
The Babymakers
Director: Jay Chandrasekhar, Screenwriters: Peter Gaulke, Gerry Swallow
Unable to impregnate his wife, Tommy and friends rob a sperm bank - to get Tommy's long-ago donated sperm back. The crazy plan goes hilariously awry and shows how far a couple will go to create a new life.
Cast: Paul Schneider, Olivia Munn, Kevin Heffernan, Wood Harris, Nat Faxon (World Premiere)
Crazy Eyes
Director: Adam Sherman, Screenwriters: Adam Sherman, Dave Reeves &amp; Rachel Hardisty
Just another story about love.
Cast: Lukas Haas, Madeline Zima, Jake Busey, Tania Raymonde, Regine Nehy (World Premiere)
Do-Deca-Pentathalon
Director/Screenwriter: Jay Duplass, Mark Duplass
Two brothers compete in their own private 25-event Olympics.
Cast: Mark Kelly, Steve Zissis, Elton LeBlanc (World Premiere)
Fat Kid Rules The World
Director: Matthew Lillard, Screenwriters: Michael M.B. Galvin, Peter Speakman
Troy, a depressed overweight teenager, gets sucked into the punk rock world by Marcus, a charming street musician. But when Troy discovers Marcus’ drug addiction, he suddenly must figure out the true boundaries of friendship.
Cast: Jacob Wysocki, Matt O'Leary, Billy Campbell, Lilli Simmons, Dylan Arnold (World Premiere)
frankie go boom
Director/Screenwriter: Jordan Roberts
a flick by bruce about his little brother frank who's a crybaby fuck who shouldn't do lame-ass embarrassing shit if he dozn't want people 2 see it
Cast: Charlie Hunnam, Chris O'Dowd, Lizzy Caplan, Ron Perlman, Chris Noth (World Premiere)
Hunky Dory (UK)
Director: Marc Evans, Screenwriter: Laurence Coriat
From the producer of Billy Elliot comes this funny, coming of age film featuring songs from artists such as David Bowie, Lou Reed, The Beach Boys, Simon and Garfunkel, Dusty Springfield and Electric Light Orchestra. Cast: Minnie Driver, Aneurin Barnard, Danielle Branch, Robert Pugh, Haydn Gwynne
(North American Premiere)
In Our Nature
Director/Screenwriter: Brian Savelson
Taking place over a single weekend, an estranged father and son accidentally end up in the same country house with their two girlfriends.
Cast: Zach Gilford, Jena Malone, John Slattery, Gabrielle Union (World Premiere)
Keyhole (Canada)
Director: Guy Maddin, Screenwriters: Guy Maddin, George Toles
I'm only a ghost... but a ghost isn't nothing.
Cast: Isabella Rossellini, Jason Patric, Udo Kier, Kevin McDonald, Tattiawna Jones (U.S. Premiere)
See Girl Run
Director/Screenwriter: Nate Meyer
What happens when a 30-something woman allows life's "what ifs" to overwhelm her appreciation for what life actually is. Disregarding her current obligations, she digs into her romantic past in hopes of invigorating her present.
Cast: Robin Tunney, Adam Scott, Jeremy Strong, William Sadler, Josh Hamilton (World Premiere)
Small Apartments
Director: Jonas Åkerlund, Screenwriter: Chris Millis
When Franklin Franklin accidentally kills his landlord, he must hide the body; but, the wisdom of his beloved brother and the quirks of his neighbors, force him on a journey where a fortune awaits him. Cast: Matt Lucas, Billy Crystal, James Caan, Johnny Knoxville, Juno Temple (World Premiere)
Somebody Up There Likes Me
Director/Screenwriter: Bob Byington
Time flies for everyone: Thirty-five years in the life of Max, his best friend Sal, and a woman they both adore. A deadpan fable about time sneaking up on and swerving right around us.
Cast: Keith Poulson, Nick Offerman, Jess Weixler, Stephanie Hunt, Kevin Corrigan (World Premiere)
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE COMPETITION
This year’s 8 films were selected from 845 submissions. Each film is a World Premiere.
Films screening in Documentary Feature Competition are:
Bay of All Saints
Director: Annie Eastman
As the last of the notorious water slums is demolished in Bahia, Brazil, will three single mothers face homelessness or rally for a better life? (World Premiere)
Beware of Mr. Baker
Director: Jay Bulger
Ginger Baker is the original rock ‘n roll madman junkie drummer superstar who everyone thought was dead but somehow survived 50+ years of heroin abuse, disastrous experiments and 5 marriages on 4 continents. (World Premiere)
The Central Park Effect
Director: Jeffrey Kimball
The film reveals the extraordinary array of wild birds who grace Manhattan’s celebrated patch of green, and the equally colorful, full-of-attitude New Yorkers who schedule their lives around the rhythms of migration. (World Premiere)
Jeff
Director: Chris James Thompson
A documentary about the people around Jeffrey Dahmer during the 1991 summer of his arrest for the murder of 17 people in Milwaukee. (World Premiere)
Seeking Asian Female
Director: Debbie Lum
When an American man with "yellow fever" meets a Chinese woman half his age online, documenting their attempt to build a marriage from scratch reveals hilarious and troubling complications for the couple and the filmmaker. (World Premiere)
The Sheik and I
Director: Caveh Zahedi
Commissioned by a Middle Eastern Biennial to make a film on the theme of "art as a subversive act," independent filmmaker Caveh Zahedi (I am a Sex Addict) is threatened with a fatwa. (World Premiere)
The Source
Directors: Jodi Wille, Maria Demopoulos
The Source Family was a radical experiment in '70s utopian living. Their popular restaurant, rock band, and beautiful women made them the darlings of Hollywood; but their outsider ideals led to their dramatic undoing. (World Premiere)
Welcome To The Machine
Director: Avi Zev Weider
Upon fathering triplets, filmmaker Avi Zev Weider explores the nature of technology, seeking answers about what it means to be human. (World Premiere)
DOCUMENTARY SPOTLIGHT
Shining a light on new documentary features receiving their World, North American or U.S. Premieres at SXSW.
Films screening in Documentary Spotlight are:
$ELLEBRITY
Director: Kevin Mazur
Renowned celebrity photographer, Kevin Mazur, gives us an all access pass to the life behind the velvet rope and in front of the camera. Candid, revealing and bold interviews with Jennifer Aniston, Sarah Jessica Parker, Jennifer Lopez, Elton John and more, take us inside the blurred lines of privacy, pliable journalism, celebrity, fame and what it feels like to be consumed. (World Premiere)
America's Parking Lot
Director: Jonny Mars
Pull up a front row seat as two die-hard fans of 'America's Team' spend their last season with the Dallas Cowboys at historic Texas Stadium, and scramble to preserve their place in America’s Parking Lot. (World Premiere)
The Announcement
Director: Nelson George
On Thursday, November 7, 1991, Earvin “Magic” Johnson made the stunning announcement that he was HIV-positive and would be retiring from basketball immediately. The Announcement gets to the core of Magic’s incredible personal journey. (World Premiere)
Beauty Is Embarrassing
Director: Neil Berkeley
A funny, irreverent and inspirational look into the life and times of one of America's most important artists, Wayne White. (World Premiere)
Brooklyn Castle
Director: Katie Dellamaggiore
Amidst financial crises and unprecedented public school budget cuts, Brooklyn Castle takes an intimate look at the challenges and triumphs facing members of a junior high school’s champion chess team. (World Premiere)
Code of the West
Director: Rebecca Richman Cohen
Frames a high stakes showdown in the halls of the Montana State Legislature. The future of medical marijuana is at stake. (World Premiere)
Degenerate Art: The Art and Culture of Glass Pipes
Director: M. Slinger
A true document of the art and culture of glass pipe-making. It is the first film to ever bring to light this invisible sub-culture in a comprehensive and well-informed format. (World Premiere)
Girl Model
Directors: A. Sabin, David Redmon
Young Russian girls join a modeling agency to seek work in Japan, but get caught up in an unregulated system that reveals an unseemly side of the fashion industry. (U.S. Premiere)
Gregory Crewdson: Brief Encounters
Director: Ben Shapiro
Acclaimed photographer Gregory Crewdson’s 10-year quest to create a series of haunting, surreal, and stunningly elaborate portraits of small-town American life — filmed with unprecedented access as he makes perfect renderings of a disturbing, imperfect world. (World Premiere)
Just Like Being There
Director: Scout Shannon
Through the eyes of Daniel Danger, Jay Ryan, and the gig poster community, Just Like Being There focuses on poster artists, the music they commemorate, MONDO film posters, fans, bloggers, galleries, collectors and everything in between. (World Premiere)
Scarlet Road (Australia)
Director: Catherine Scott
The film follows the extraordinary work of Australian sex worker, Rachel Wotton. Impassioned about freedom of sexual expression and the rights of sex workers, she specializes in a long over-looked clientele - people with disability. (North American Premiere)
Trash Dance
Director: Andrew Garrison
A choreographer finds beauty and grace in garbage trucks, and against the odds, rallies reluctant city trash collectors to perform an extraordinary dance spectacle. On an abandoned airport runway, two dozen sanitation workers -- and their trucks -- inspire an audience of thousands. (World Premiere)
Waiting For Lightning
Director: Jacob Rosenberg
From the producers of Step into Liquid, comes the story of visionary skateboarder Danny Way, who jumped China’s Great Wall and created a new movement in sport. (World Premiere)
Wikileaks: Secrets &amp; Lies (UK)
Director: Patrick Forbes
The in-depth story of Wikileaks told by all the key players. Sulphurous, personal and moving, it documents history in the making at the lawless frontier of new technology and mainstream media. (North American Premiere)
WONDER WOMEN! The Untold Story of American Superheroines
Director: Kristy Guevara-Flanagan
This documentary examines the fascinating evolution and legacy of Wonder Woman and introduces audiences to a dynamic group of real life superheroes who continue to fight the good fight both on and off the screen. (World Premiere)
EMERGING VISIONS
Audacious, risk-taking artists in the new cinema landscape that demonstrate raw innovation and creativity in documentary and narrative filmmaking.
Films screening in Emerging Visions are:
Black Pond (UK)
Directors: Tom Kingsley, Will Sharpe, Screenwriter: Will Sharpe
An ordinary family is accused of murder when a stranger dies at their dinner table. Stars BAFTA-winner Chris Langham and British Comedy Award Winner Simon Amstell. Cast: Chris Langham, Simon Amstell, Amanda Hadingue, Colin Hurley, Will Sharpe (North American Premiere)
Dollhouse (Ireland)
Director/Screenwriter: Kirsten Sheridan
Five street teens break into a house in a rich Dublin suburb for a night of partying. But games are twisted into something more emotional and ultimately out of control through a series of surprising revelations. Cast: Seana Kerslake, Johnny Ward, Kate Stanley Brennan, Shane Curry, Ciaran McCabe (North American Premiere)
Eating Alabama
Director: Andrew Beck Grace
A quest to eat locally becomes a meditation on community, the South and sustainability. Eating Alabama is a story about why food matters. (World Premiere)
Electrick Children
Director/Screenwriter: Rebecca Thomas
Rachel, a 15-year-old fundamentalist Mormon, believes she's had an immaculate conception by listening to rock and roll. She flees to Las Vegas to escape an arranged marriage, seeking answers to her mysterious pregnancy.
Cast: Julia Garner, Rory Culkin, Liam Aiken, Billy Zane (North American Premiere)
Extracted
Director/Screenwriter: Nir Paniry
A scientist is trapped in the memories of a criminal and must solve a crime in order to get back home to his family.
Cast: Sasha Roiz, Dominic Bogart, Jenny Mollen, Nick Jameson, Brad Culver (World Premiere)
Francine (Canada / USA)
Director/Screenwriter: Brian M. Cassidy, Melanie Shatzky
Academy-Award-winner, Melissa Leo, plays Francine, a woman struggling to find her place in a downtrodden lakeside town after leaving behind a life in prison.
Cast: Melissa Leo, Keith Leonard, Victoria Charkut (North American Premiere)
Funeral Kings
Director/Screenwriter: Kevin Mcmanus, Matthew Mcmanus
For three 14-year-old boys at St. Mark's Middle School, it's always a good day for a funeral.
Cast: Dylan Hartigan, Alex Maizus, Jordan Puzzo, Charles Odei, Kevin Corrigan (World Premiere)
Hard Labor (Brazil)
Director/Screenwriter: Juliana Rojas, Marco Dutra
Helena prepares to open her own business: a neighborhood grocery store. She hires a maid. But when her husband Octavio is suddenly fired from his job, Helena is left to support the family alone.
Cast: Helena Albergaria, Marat Descartes, Naloana Lima, Marina Flores (U.S. Premiere)
La Camioneta - The Journey of One American School Bus
Director: Mark Kendall
On a 3,000-mile adventure across the borders between the Americas, La Camioneta follows the journey of one out-of-service American school bus as it is repaired, repainted and resurrected into a Guatemalan camioneta. (World Premiere)
The Last Fall
Director/Screenwriter: Matthew A. Cherry
An NFL journeyman struggles to deal with life's complexities after his professional career is over at age 25.
Cast: Lance Gross, Nicole Beharie, Vanessa Bell Calloway, Harry Lennix, Keith David
(World Premiere)
Leave Me Like You Found Me
Director/Screenwriter: Adele Romanski
Big trees, broken hearts. The story of a lovesick couple’s breakup &amp; makeup while camping in the wilds of California. Cast: Megan Boone, David Nordstrom (World Premiere)
PAVILION
Director/Screenwriter: Tim Sutton
Max, a quietly troubled 15-year-old, leaves his lakeside town to live with his father on the sun-blasted fringe of suburban Arizona. What begins in a calm and lush environment ends in a drastic, frayed confusion. Cast: Max Schaffner, Zach Cali, Cody Hamric, Addie Barlett, Aaron Buyea (World Premiere)
Sun Don't Shine
Director/Screenwriter: Amy Seimetz
Two lovers, on the back roads of Florida, do very bad things.
Cast: Kate Lyn Sheil, Kentucker Audley, AJ Bowen, Kit Gwinn, Mark Reeb (World Premiere)
Sunset Stories
Directors: Silas Howard, Ernesto Foronda, Screenwriter: Valerie Stadler
When May returns to LA and runs smack into JP, the man she left behind, past and present collide sending them on a twenty-four hour journey in search of what they lost.
Cast: Monique Curnen, Sung Kang, Joshua Leonard, Mousa Kraish, Michelle Krusiec (World Premiere)
Tchoupitoulas
Director: Bill Ross, Turner Ross
Three young brothers' immersive journey into the sensory wonders of the New Orleans night.
(World Premiere)
Thale (Norway)
Director/Screenwriter: Aleksander L. Nordaas
The film revolves around huldra, a mythical, tailed creature, found by two crime scene cleaners in a concealed cellar. Someone’s been keeping her down here for decades, for reasons soon to surface. Cast: Silje Reinåmo, Jon Sigve Skard, Erlend Nervold, Morten Andresen (North American Premiere)
Wildness
Director/Screenwriter: Wu Tsang
A magical-realist portrait of the Silver Platter, a historic bar in Los Angeles that provides a safe space for Latin/LGBT immigrant and queer art communities to come together in love and conflict.
WOLF
Director/Screenwriter: Ya'ke Smith
A family is shaken to the core when they discover their son has been molested. As they struggle to deal with the betrayal, their son heads towards a total mental collapse.
Cast: Irma P. Hall, Mikala Gibson, Jordan Cooper, Shelton Jolivette, Eugene Lee (World Premiere)
24 BEATS PER SECOND
Showcasing the sounds, culture and influence of music and musicians, with an emphasis on documentary.
Films screening in 24 Beats Per Second are:
Amor Cronico (Cuba / USA)
Director: Jorge Perugorria
Weaving footage of singer Cucu Diamantes’ Cuban tour into a fictional love story. The result is an energetic display of her glamorous and infectious performance style and a fascinating portrait of Cuba today.
Cast: Cucu Diamantes, Adela Legra, Liosky Clavero, Andres Levin, Jorge Perugorria (World Premiere)
Bad Brains: Band in DC
Directors: Mandy Stein, Benjamen Logan
How four young men from DC changed music forever. (World Premiere)
Charles Bradley: Soul of America
Director: Poull Brien
The incredible late-in-life rise of 62-year-old aspiring soul singer Charles Bradley, whose debut album rocketed him from a hard life in the projects to Rolling Stone magazine’s top 50 albums of 2011.
(World Premiere)
Daylight Savings
Director: Dave Boyle, Screenwriters: Dave Boyle, Michael Lerman, Joel Clark, Goh Nakamura
After a devastating breakup, musician Goh Nakamura hits the road with his irresponsible cousin to pursue a promising rebound with fellow musician Yea-Ming Chen.
Cast: Goh Nakamura, Michael Aki, Yea-Ming Chen, Lynn Chen, Ayako Fujitani (World Premiere)
Grandma Lo-fi: The Basement Tapes of Sigrídur Níelsdóttir (Iceland / Denmark)
Director: Kristín Björk Kristjánsdóttir
At the tender age of 70 she started making music - and then she couldn't stop! A tribute to the Danish/Icelandic artist and late bloomer Sigrídur Níelsdóttir.
Paul Williams Still Alive
Director: Stephen Kessler
A documentary filmmaker tracks down actor/singer/songwriter Paul Williams in an attempt to find out what happened to his idol. (U.S. Premiere)
Rock 'N' Roll Exposed: The Photography of Bob Gruen (UK)
Director: Don Letts
Iggy Pop, Debbie Harry, Yoko Ono, Alice Cooper, Billie Joe Armstrong and others discuss the incredible life and work of the world's foremost rock 'n' roll photographer, Bob Gruen.
(North American Premiere)
Sunset Strip
Director/Screenwriter: Hans Fjellestad
The 100-year history of the loudest street on the planet, The Sunset Strip. (World Premiere)
Under African Skies
Director: Joe Berlinger
Paul Simon returns to South Africa to explore the incredible journey of his historic Graceland album, including the political backlash he received for allegedly breaking the UN cultural boycott of South Africa designed to end the Apartheid regime.
Uprising: Hip Hop &amp; The LA Riots
Director: Mark Ford
20 years after riots ripped through Los Angeles, Uprising documents how hip hop forecasted – and some say ignited – the worst civil unrest of the 20th century. (World Premiere)
SX GLOBAL
A diverse panorama of international filmmaking talent, including premieres, interactive documentaries and shorts.
Films screening in SX Global are:
BIJUKA (India)
Director: Ashtar Sayed, Screenwriter: Dr. Mahendra Purohit
Inspired by a true event. Scarecrow tells the true story of a young woman who is attempting to escape from an abusive arranged marriage. Cast: Arti Rautela, Amit Purohit (North American Premiere)
Crulic - The Path to Beyond (Romania / Poland)
Director: Anca Damian
The animated documentary feature-length “Crulic – The Path to Beyond” tells the story of the life of Crulic, the 33-year-old Romanian who died in a Polish prison while on hunger strike.
Cubaton - El Medico Story (Estonia / Sweden)
Director: Daniel Fridell
El Medico - a Cuban house doctor who wants to become a cubaton star - is facing a serious choice between serving the state and becoming a popstar. (North American Premiere)
Her Master's Voice (UK)
Director: Nina Conti
Watching someone talk to themselves has never been so interesting. (World Premiere)
ITALY LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT (Italy / Germany)
Directors: Gustav Hofer, Luca Ragazzi
Gustav and Luca, two Italians, have to decide: Should they stay in Italy, or leave it? (North American Premiere)
Mustafa's Sweet Dreams (Greece / UK)
Director: Angelos Abazoglou
Mustafa, a 16-year-old pastry shop apprentice dreams of becoming a famous baklava chef in Istanbul. (North American Premiere)
Pompeya (Argentina)
Director: Tamae Garateguy, Screenwriters: Tamae Garateguy, Diego A. Fleischer
When a film director hires two screenwriters to make a gangster movie, a fiction feast starts: femmes fatales, mobs fighting for the same neighborhood and a limitless hero who defies every movie concept. Cast: José Luciano González, Joel Drut, Chang Sung Kim, Vladimir Yuravel, Miguel Forza de Paul
(U.S. Premiere)
¡Vivan las Antipodas! (Germany / The Netherlands / Argentina / Chile)
Director: Victor Kossakovsky
Haven’t we all wondered at some point what was happening just at this moment beneath our very feet at the other side of the planet?
FESTIVAL FAVORITES
Acclaimed standouts and selected previous premieres from festivals around the world.
Films screening in Festival Favorites are:
Beast (Denmark)
Director/Screenwriter: Christoffer Boe
How long will you go, to hold on to the person you love?
Cast: Nicolas Bro, Marijana Jankovic, Nikolaj Lie Kaas
The Comedy
Director: Rick Alverson, Screenwriters: Robert Donne, Colm O'Leary
Indifferent even to the prospects of inheriting his father's estate, Swanson (Tim Heidecker), a desensitized, aging Brooklyn hipster, strays into a series of reckless situations that may offer the promise of redemption or the threat of retribution.
Cast: Tim Heidecker, Eric Wareheim, James Murphy, Kate Lyn-Sheil, Alexia Rassmusen
Dreams of a Life (UK / Ireland)
Director: Carol Morley
An imaginative quest to go beyond the newspaper reports and solve the mystery of who thirty-eight year old Joyce Vincent was and why she lay undiscovered for three years after her death in one of the busiest parts of London. (North American Premiere)
God Bless America
Director/Screenwriter: Bobcat Goldthwait
Loveless, jobless, possibly terminally ill, Frank has had enough of the downward spiral of America. With nothing left to lose, Frank takes his gun and offs the stupidest, cruelest, and most repellent members of society. Cast: Joel Murray, Tara Lynne Barr (U.S. Premiere)
The Imposter (UK)
Director: Bart Layton
In 1994 a 13-year-old disappears without trace in Texas. Three years later he resurfaces in Spain with accounts of a horrifying kidnap. His family is overjoyed – but all is not as it seems.
Indie Game: The Movie (Canada)
Directors: Lisanne Pajot, James Swirsky
With the twenty-first century comes a new breed of artist: the indie game designer. These innovators design and program their distinctly personal games in the hope that they may find connection and success.
KID-THING
Director/Screenwriter: David Zellner
A fever-dream fable about Annie, a rebellious girl devoid of parental guidance or a moral compass. She roams the countryside looking for adventure, and finds it one day in the form of an abandoned well. Cast: Sydney Aguirre, Susan Tyrrell, Nathan Zellner, David Zellner, David Wingo
Last Call at the Oasis
Director: Jessica Yu
A powerful argument for why the global water crisis will be the central issue facing our world this century.
Lovely Molly
Director: Eduardo Sanchez, Screenwriters: Eduardo Sanchez, Jamie Nash
Exploring the parallels between psychosis, addiction and demonic possession, Lovely Molly tells the story of what really happens before the exorcist arrives.
Cast: Gretchen Lodge, Johnny Lewis, Alexandra Holden (U.S. Premiere)
The Raid (Indonesia)
Director/Screenwriter: Gareth Huw Evans
Rama and his special forces team fight their way through a rundown apartment block with a mission to remove its owner, a notorious drug lord.
Cast: Iko Uwais, Joe Taslim, Doni Alamsyah, Yayan Ruhian, Pierre Gruno
WE ARE LEGION: The Story of the Hacktivists
Director: Brian Knappenberger
We Are Legion takes us inside the world of Anonymous, the radical "hacktivist" collective that has redefined civil disobedience for the digital age.
SPECIAL EVENTS
Live Soundtracks, cult re-issues and much more. Our Special Events section offers unusual, unexpected and unique film event one-offs.
Films screening in Special Events are:
An Evening With Sacred Bones Records
Director: Jacqueline Castel
Brooklyn-based record label Sacred Bones presents an evening of original and curated programming of music videos, short films, works in progress, and a rare screening of their first film production, Twelve Dark Noons. (World Premiere)
Bernie
Director: Richard Linklater, Screenwriters: Richard Linklater, Skip Hollandsworth
Based on real-life events, this dark comedy follows Bernie Tiede, his recently deceased friend Marjorie Nugent and District Attorney Danny Buck Davidson who is determined to get to the bottom of the crime. Cast: Jack Black, Shirley MacLaine, Matthew McConaughey, Brady Coleman, Richard Robichaux
Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me
Director: Drew Denicola
A feature-length documentary about the massive critical acclaim, dismal commercial failure, and enduring legacy of pop music’s greatest cult phenomenon, Big Star. (Work in Progress)
Casa de mi Padre
Director: Matt Piedmont, Screenwriter: Andrew Steele
Will Ferrell plays a Mexican rancher who must defend his father's home against the country's most infamous drug lord. Cast: Will Ferrell, Gael García Vernal, Diego Luna, Genesis Rodriguez, Pedro Armendáriz Jr., Nick Offerman
Girl Walk // All Day
Director/Screenwriter: Jacob Krupnick
A feature-length dance music film that combines freestyle dance with the daily chaos of New York City, set to Girl Talk's recent mashup album, All Day. Cast: Anne Marsen, John Doyle, Daisuke Omiya
Re:Generation
Director: Amir Bar Lev
5 DJ's Turn the Table on The History of Music.
Renga (UK)
Directors: Adam Russell, John Sear
A ground breaking feature-length show controlled entirely by the audience using laser pointers. It is the first viable example of a standalone interactive experience capable of running in commercial movie theatres. (North American Premiere)
The Oyster Princess (1919) with original live score by Bee vs. Moth (Germany)
Director: Ernst Lubitsch, Screenriters: Hanns Kraly &amp; Ernst Lubitsch
The Oyster Princess is Ernst Lubitsch’s tart 1919 silent comedy that parodies the rich and the spoiled. Austin jazz/rock band Bee vs. Moth performs their original score live with the film for the first time. (World Premiere)

If there is one thing everybody loves, it’s a great monster film. And if there is one sort of person I can’t stand, it’s someone who doesn’t love great monster films.
But if you aren’t someone who watches movies all day every day, like me, you may be operating under the misconception that America has the market cornered on spectacular creature features. As it turns out, the firmament of world cinema is littered with shining monsters of all shapes and sizes. Thanks to Netflix’s Watch Instantly service, you can expose yourself to nearly the entire international gamut of monster movies. We hope you’ll consider one such foreign monster movie: Korea’s The Host from 2006.
Who Made It: The Host was directed Bong Joon-ho. Along with this fantastic creature feature, Bong Joon-ho also gave us a deeply moving serial killer thriller in 2003’s Memories of Murder. He is also apparently directing a sequel to The Host, which is currently in some phase of production.
Who’s In It: I won’t delve into the entire cast, mostly because I would be in danger of multiple, multiple spelling errors with their names. But I do want to mention the star of the film Kang-ho Song. This guy’s resume reads like a Must See List of some of the best Korean cinema has had to offer over the last decade. He’s been featured in Park Chan-wook’s Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, Lady Vengeance, and Thirst as well as Bong Joon-ho’s Memories of Murder and Jee-woon Kim’s The Good, the Bad, the Weird. All films exceedingly worthy of your time.
What’s It About: A batch of long-expired formaldehyde dumped into Seoul’s water supply gives birth to a mutated amphibious create that wreaks havoc upon those living alongside the Han River. When the creature abducts a young girl, her family, (who at first believed her to be dead) sets out on a dangerous mission to bring her home.
Why You Should Watch It:
The Host is an exemplary monster movie on a number of levels, not the least of which being the design of the monster itself. The decision to make it amphibian as opposed to a simply water-dwelling beast immediately ratchets up the terror. It’s one thing to create a reason not to go in the water, but it’s an entirely new ball game when you are no longer safe on dry land. What we end up with is something sort of like a giant salamander/fish hybrid with more appendages than we can count and a prehensile tail, and yet it moves like a great cat when on land. Its eyes are nearly impossible to identify, something that always creates a sense of dread, and its mouth seems to harbor endless compartments of sharp teeth. Basically, not at all something you would want to see tooling around your neighborhood.
The catalytic scene, in which the presence of the beast is revealed, is one of the most jaw-dropping sequences in all of horrordom. Spectators gather to observe a mysterious pod hanging from under a bridge. The pod them drops into the water and what follows is a symphony of carnage and death. The way Bong Joon-ho shoots the sequence, largely from our hero’s point of view as he flees for his life, creates some stunning imagery that serves the dual purpose of creating tension and withholding enough direct exposure to not allow the computer-generated graphics to be so overt. This sequence powerfully asserts the film’s tone and serves as an appetizer for its boldness—even innocent people are torn to shreds.
Despite all the terror, the violent thrashing of claws and gnashing of teeth, The Host’s true power is in its undeniable amount of heart. The pain and anguish of the family of the stolen girl is deeply affecting and yields to a measured amount of bittersweet comedy as they struggle valiantly against their own monster-hunting ineptitude to reclaim her. The relationship between that little girl and an even younger boy she meets in the monster’s lair not only makes for some edge-of-your-seat plot devices, but also furthers the tear-jerking sense of sentimentality and the film’s overall message of love’s ability to conquer all.

This week's episode of Hawaii Five-0 opens when a delivery truck is attacked and a package apprehended. When the Five-0 realize that one of the deliverymen has lied about details of the attack, they investigate his home, only to find him tied up and in the company of a corpse.
The deliveryman starts the Five-0 on an investigation of an operation of the creation and use of false passports. They manage to trace the origin of the passport distribution to a criminal named Nicky Chang. In order to apprehend Chang and get more information on his trade, the Five-0 tap a jailed criminal to wear a wire and go undercover into Chang’s operation. Upon the criminal’s insistence, he is given a bodyguard: Kamekona, the food stand operator and friend to the Five-0.
When the Five-0 finds out that Chang recently sold one hundred false passports to a single buyer, the threat level of the crime is upgraded, suggesting terrorist intent. The Five-0 manages to catch and deter the plot, which has also resulted in the murder of a low-level document forger with whom White is connected.
McGarrett is still suspicious of Joe White, whom he finds snooping around an antiques store early in the episode. Prior to this, we see a flashback scene from McGarrett’s youth, when his father decided to send he and his sister to the mainland to protect them from the dangers of his work.
We saw the McGarrett-White animosity planted last week, and it surrounds the same theme this time: the possibility that White has killed the Yazuka leader, Hiro Noshimuri. Adam Noshimuri makes another appearance this week, intent on killing White for the murder of his father. However, White reveals to Adam that his father is not dead, simply in hiding, and allows Adam to speak to his father once on the phone.
At the end of the episode, White reveals his secret to McGarrett: Shelburne, the identity wrapped in the mystery of McGarrett’s father’s work and death, is actually an alias McGarrett’s father and White made up together to detract focus away from their investigation of the Yakuza. Wo Fat, the crime lord with ties to the Yakuza, lost his father to Shelburne’s hand: White is the one who killed him. Thus, White decides that he must leave Hawaii in order to protect McGarrett and his loved ones from the Yakuza’s wrath.
Away from the action for most of the episode is Danno, who is helping his ex-wife give birth to her new son. Although it is a difficult time for Danno, he is truly noble throughout, and is a very big help to Rachel.
Top Five Moments From "Pu'olo"
1. Terry O’Quinn allowing a troubled man to talk to his presumed dead father seemed very John Locke-like.
2. The outrageously overt product placement for Subway in the scene where the Five-0 speaks to Kamekona about his closed food stand is hilarious.
3. McGarrett’s takedown of a flamethrower-wielding Nicky Chang by tackling him, armed only with a large box of some kind.
4. O’Quinn shielding a civilian from a drive-by: heroic.
5. The flashback sequence in the beginning of the episode does a good job of planting McGarrett's lifelong father issues.

Synopsis

A woman who is suffering from amnesia discovers that she does not recognize her husband and daughter. She struggles to reconstruct her life and is forced to confront some secrets in her past. Meanwhile, she realizes that she and her family are the targets of a vengeful woman.